The path of Mahayana
Buddhist cultivation—encompassing both the supramundane and the mundane—is at
its core a continuous process of “untying knots.” These “knots” are the
afflictive fetters that bind sentient beings to transmigration within the three
realms and obstruct their liberation: craving, aversion, delusion, arrogance,
doubt, and the many other defilements of the mind. It is precisely to liberate
sentient beings from these very knots that the buddhas and bodhisattvas appear
in this world—and their compassionate vows and methods are vividly expressed
through the objects they hold and the hand seals they form.
The painted images and statues of buddhas
and bodhisattvas encountered throughout the authentic Buddhist tradition are
often distinguished by the objects they hold or the hand seals they form. These
are not decorative conventions but precise doctrinal expressions, each encoding
a specific teaching and vow. Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī wields a sword of wisdom,
symbolizing the cutting-through of ignorance with the blade of prajñā
wisdom. Bodhisattva Avalokitêśvara holds a willow branch and a pure vase,
symbolizing the relief of suffering beings through the nectar of great
compassion. The World-Honored One Śākyamuni forms either the seal of
dharma-realm concentration or the seal of expounding the Dharma. The
World-Honored One Amitābha forms the seal of receiving and guiding, ushering
sentient beings toward rebirth in the Pure Land. These objects and hand seals
serve as tangible expressions of the Dharmic virtues of all buddhas and bodhisattvas,
each embodying their own unique original vows and aspirational causes and
conditions.
The teaching seal formed by Buddha
Śākyamuni, also known as the seal of untying knots, holds profound meaning: by expounding
the doctrines of the Three-Vehicle Bodhi—the paths of the sound-hearer,
solitary-realizer, and bodhisattva—the World-Honored One aids sentient beings
in gradually untying the afflictive fetters that bind them to cyclic existence.
The teaching seal symbolizes the boundless compassion of the World-Honored One
in revealing to sentient beings the true meaning of the eighth consciousness,
the tathāgatagarbha, enabling practitioners to come to know that every
sentient being possesses an intrinsically pure tathāgatagarbha—one whose
essential nature is originally and inherently immaculate and pure, neither
arising nor ceasing, not born of causes and conditions, but inherently existent
by the very nature of Dharma.
The teaching
outlined above draws exclusively from the canonical Mahāprajñāpāramitā
sūtras and the Yogācāra tradition—both faithfully preserved within
the Buddhist canon as transmitted from the World-Honored One. This teaching has
no connection to the esoteric Tantric practices, guru-worship systems, or
initiatory rituals of Tibetan Lamaism, which arose from a later, separate
doctrinal development and must not be conflated with the authentic Dharma
taught by Buddha Śākyamuni. Although Tibetan Lamaism also employs various hand
gestures that may superficially resemble Buddhist mudrās, their origins and
inner meanings are entirely different. In fact, these Lamaist hand gestures
have no connection to Buddhism whatsoever.
Although the tathāgatagarbha is
pure in its fundamental nature, it stores immeasurable seeds of both good and
evil, resulting in sentient beings’ endless transmigration through the six
paths within the three realms. However, one who achieves personal realization
of the tathāgatagarbha — that is, attaining awakening to the wisdom pertaining
to prajñā — can fundamentally loosen the great bondage of birth and
death, thereby stepping onto the Bodhisattva Path and ultimately attaining
Buddhahood. The ultimate purpose of attaining Buddhahood is not personal
liberation alone, but the capacity to liberate immeasurable sentient beings in
an ever-more perfect and far-reaching way. This is the deepest Dharmic
significance revealed by the World-Honored One’s teaching (hand) seal—and the
fundamental force that sustains unwavering progress along the Great Vehicle’s Path
to Buddhahood, life after life.
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